Our Arizona Media Association Association has launched a stand-alone 501(c)3 Arizona Local News Foundation to fundraise for the future of local news access.

The mission of the Foundation is to connect communities with more local news and information. We’ve built both low-hanging fruit priorities and shoot-for-moon goals that fulfill this mission and the Foundation is working towards $250,000 in fundraising for its first full year in 2024. That includes four priorities:

Paid internship opportunities for every newsroom in Arizona: Our launch goal is to ensure that every newsroom in Arizona that wants an internship is able to receive funding to train new talent and expand opportunities. 

Startup Local News Project Fund: We want to support innovation. Our Foundation will fund $5,000 grants to startup newsrooms or special projects in existing newsrooms that present business plans and content strategies focused on community connection and expanded local news access.

Rural Arizona News Expansion Project: Access to local news is perhaps most threatened in small-town Arizona. As funding allows, we plan to support news expansion grants to help rural Arizona newsrooms hire journalists. 

General Fund Grants: Beyond these launch priorities, we encourage news operations of any size to apply for year-round funding on any project they want to pursue. We plan to review any submitted requests quarterly during Foundation board meetings. General funding can be requested here.

Our Foundation is building a stand-along board to help oversee the growth of this new venture. Our goal is to develop a 15-20 person team that can oversee both the fundraising and distribution of future funds. We’re proud to announce the following leaders as part of our Foundation Board launch:

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
Board Chair: Stacy Sullivan, Gannett/The Arizona Republic
Board Vice Chair: Colleen Brady, Wick Communications
Board Treasurer: Julie Shaw, Julie Shaw CFO Consulting

SUSTAINING DIRECTORS:
Teri Hayt, Report for America
Anita Helt, Scripps Media
Arizona Media Association Executive Committee
More to come…

FULL-TIME FOUNDATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Megan Livengood

We are currently promoting the Foundation to potential donors and new board members. We welcome all introductions you are able to make. Megan is your point of contact at 602-252-4833 or megan@azmedia.org.

We’re also pleased to debut our public donation portal. All monies received are fully tax deductible! 

Here’s more information.